


Expectations

by seki



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-25
Updated: 2014-09-25
Packaged: 2018-02-21 19:52:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2480417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seki/pseuds/seki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fluffy ficlet from Legacy-verse, for Kirihara's birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Expectations

It turned out that having a boyfriend wasn’t quite like Akaya’d expected it to be.

Oh, they made out a bunch, and more besides, and sometimes Renji’d just lie next to him and hold his hand and talk to him and tell him how much he liked him. And that was what he’d always hoped for, feeling wanted and safe and part of something that was theirs alone. Even the sneaking around, the faking just-a-friendship stuff, he’d always known that would be the case even if he wished it didn’t have to be that way.

But he kept finding out things. Kept having to reassess and reconsider based on new data, as his boyfriend would probably put it.

Akaya would have been the first to admit that in middle school he’d pretty much worshipped all his tennis senpais, like a pantheon of quirky deities headed by the force of nature that was Yukimura. He wasn’t even alone in that; plenty of the non-regulars had regarded the regulars as godlike too, and even people outside the tennis club had been awed by people like Sanada and by the reputation of the team as a whole. Akaya’s genuine friendship with his senpais had made him envied amongst his peers, as a result.

Yanagi’d been the wisest of his senpais, and in Akaya’s head that meant he was sort of zen and unflappable and… balanced? Even if Akaya hadn’t been half-blinded by his own expectations, Yanagi-senpai was very good at giving that impression anyway.

It’d been a shock to find out that _Renji_ was in fact kind of a mess, inside his head. After Yukimura, all his senpais had suddenly been revealed as a lot more human than they had been before. And that was important; it turned out that Renji was touchable and relatable and Akaya could see through the little shows of dignity and poise now to the shaky uncertain core. Renji couldn’t see how great he was, that was the problem, really. It was frustrating, but Akaya figured that just meant it was Akaya’s job to convince him.

Still, his messy, awkward, wonderful boyfriend wasn’t great at remembering some important data points. Like Akaya’s birthday. Akaya’d been expecting Renji to remember, really. A card, or a poem — Renji had written poems for Akaya a few times, and Akaya’d made sure to ask exactly what they meant so he didn’t miss out on any part of them — or a piece of calligraphy that maybe Akaya would have to pretend he got the point of until he’d stared at it enough to get the point of it. He didn’t really mind, as long as Renji’d remembered.

But nothing.

Hirota-kun had brought in a cake for him at lunchtime, though; it wasn’t as if other people hadn’t remembered. Classmates had given him little cards and gifts. Marui-senpai had given him a little birthday cupcake in a box. Niou-senpai had handed him an envelope that Akaya wasn’t going to risk opening in school. Sanada-senpai had put a card in his shoe locker, and so had Yagyuu-senpai and Suda-senpai. But Renji — when Akaya’d caught up with him in the cafeteria, Renji’d just acted like he did every lunchtime when they were in public: a smile, a pat on the shoulder, a polite enquiry about Akaya’s day, a promise to see him later.

There was no tennis practise scheduled for today. Akaya knew it was selfish to mind not seeing everyone, but it would have been nice to maybe go to Sanada-senpai’s place and just all be together for his birthday. But without a practise, there wasn’t really much excuse to gather everyone just to hang out for his sake.

He kicked a stone, idly, and hitched his schoolbag up his shoulder. Ten minutes since school let out.

A hand landed gently on his shoulder, and he spun around delightedly.

"Akaya," said Renji, smiling fondly down at Akaya.

It was really frustrating to have to not touch his boyfriend in public sometimes. “Hey.”

"Ordinarily, I’d ask you what you wanted to do tonight," Renji said, doing something to Akaya’s collar — neatening it, probably, but his hand was brushing against Akaya’s neck and it was sort of ticklish. "But I’m afraid we’re expected at the arcade in about an hour."

"…what?"

"For your birthday. It’s just the regulars, because I didn’t want to invite too many people. I hope that’s okay."

Akaya blinked. “A party?”

"Of course." Renji ruffled his hair, which probably looked more innocent to any observers than it felt — something about the way Renji’s fingers dragged across his scalp always made Akaya’s knees go a little weak. "And you’re staying at mine tonight. I asked your mother, several weeks ago."

"I thought you’d forgotten." Akaya’s mother hadn’t told him, either. "A surprise party, really?"

"Of course." Renji brushed some hair out of Akaya’s face, and really if his boyfriend didn’t stop touching him like this then pretty soon Akaya was going to have to jump him, public or not.

"An hour," he said, instead. The arcade was ten minutes away from school, five if you sprinted. There were plenty of nice little private lockable rooms around the school to while away an hour or so in.

"The courts are deserted. I thought you might want to fit in a quick game of tennis first?"

Oh. Well, that would be good too. And there were showers, after tennis.

Renji smiled at him, waiting for a reply.

"I’ll beat you in ten minutes," Akaya said, grinning widely.

No reason he couldn’t get _everything_ he wanted, today of all days. That’s what birthdays were for, after all.


End file.
